We need storage spaces in our lives, even places that are ‘I’ll just put this here for now” areas. We need to ‘allow’ ourselves places in our homes that are utilitarian and functional — the place where the pet supplies go, tools and recycling are stored, and the holiday decorations are kept. And they WILL get messy from time to time. At the same time, it is good feng shui to keep on top of what we are keeping and deal with accumulation before it gets out of hand.
In our homes these areas are usually the basement, garage and/or attic. When I had all three it allowed me to put off a lot of decisions and postpone taking action. Can you relate to this? We are well intentioned but de-cluttering and reorganizing can be a lot of work. In busy schedules it is often not the top priority so it takes extra effort to go this last mile in our feng shui journey. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- If you’ve de-cluttered your bedroom closet and kitchen and ended up with a few bags and boxes to find new homes for, have they ended being stored in the garage or basement?
- Can you use your storage spaces for the intended purpose? For example can you get your car parked in the garage?
- Is there additional living space in the basement and/or attic or is it a space just for utilities and storage? How many rooms have to do double duty?
- Do you know what is being kept in your storage areas and can you easily find things you need?
- Are things fairly well organized but there is simply too much for the space that is available?
Of course many people do not have any of these storage areas (I don’t currently) but they probably have a storage space of some kind, somewhere. We have a little storage room built right into our condo, where tools, bikes and the like get stored and it is our main ”I’ll just put this here for now” place. It is located in the Helpful People area of the bagua. To keep it from affecting our ‘helpful people’ energy we compensate by enhancing this area in the other rooms of our house.
You can do this too: whatever bagua map gua storage areas fall into into, enhance that area in other rooms by laying the bagua map over individual rooms (using the doorway to the room as the orientation direction.) And do try to schedule periodic clean ups in the storage room to keep the energy moving.
It is said that the basement represents your foundations or roots in life, as well as your subconscious mind. Clutter here can represent thoughts that hold you back, suppressed desires, unconscious beliefs, thoughts, patterns of behaviour, or the lack of foundation or roots in your life.
The attic is said to represent things hanging over your head, and/or goals or dreams beyond your reach. With clutter over your head there is a physical safety issue as well, of having things fall through the ceiling.
Today is a day to free up energy: anything that could be holding you back or hanging over your head. Do an inventory of your storage area and decide which need attention. Make a plan to follow through and do a thorough clear out and clean up. This will likely take quite a bit more effort than clearing a single room so allow yourself plenty of time. For example when we moved from our house we rented a disposal bin and made an appointment with a charity to come and pick up large items we were donating. Today commit yourself to beginning.
© Deborah Redfern 2010. All righs reserved.
